Patient supports, such as hospital beds, are known to have guard structures, such as side rails, that are movable to permit patient entry and egress from the patient support; for example, they may be raised and lowered. Side rails are known to be mechanically lockable. When a typical side rail is locked, it cannot be moved.
Side rail locking mechanisms are limited in how they can be unlocked. This may lead to inconvenience when operating the patient support. For example, typical locking structures or locking mechanisms are operable only from outside the patient support or bed by a caregiver or attendant; this makes it difficult for patients to exit the bed once the rails have been raised without calling for help. This may be inconvenient in some situations, for example when a patient needs to quickly use a restroom or in maternity wards where an infant is present in the bed along with the patient. In addition, during a medical emergency, this may be dangerous if patient access is required quickly and the each rail needs to be manually unlocked by an attendant.
Side rails may also be lowered at times when they would better be left raised, such as when the patient support is adjusted to a high height or while the patient support is being lowered to a low height near the floor. This may be dangerous to the occupant of the patient support, due to the danger of falling out of the bed, or may damage side rails due to impact with the floor when the bed is lowered. Existing patient supports typically do not include patient support control mechanisms that determine the locking state and/or rail position in conjunction with other variables, such as bed height, or locking mechanisms that facilitate this determination.
There is therefore a need for improved patient supports, side rails and/or side rail unlocking mechanisms to mitigate some or all of these deficiencies.